


Felicity Versus the Third Date

by McFreeky



Series: Chuckin' Arrows [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-30
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-21 08:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1543748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McFreeky/pseuds/McFreeky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone was getting suspicious about Felicity's new boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Boyfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And she thought she was going to get lucky.

Felicity was in the stock room of Tech World which doubled as the Tech-perts’ spot to fix all of the broken towers, displays, and laptops that people brought to them (she wasn’t going to call it the Tech-pital anymore). She left the counter in the capable hands of Scott and Jay. They were told to call her if they needed her, but she doubted they would run into any problems they couldn’t handle.

If it was Colton and Rex she was working with today, Felicity wouldn’t let the two out of her sight. She would call them children, but that would be an insult to kids everywhere. How they got into so much trouble in such little time, she had no clue. All she knew was that they couldn’t be trusted.

Felicity just cracked open a tower that the customer said no longer started. Apparently, the man had his son try to fix it, and the teenager decided to deconstruct and rebuild the whole thing. And he did it all wrong. It wouldn’t be too hard to put back together, but Felicity could see that the first problem was caused by a bad connection between the power source and the motherboard. If they had brought it in the first place, they could have fixed it overnight with almost no cost to them.

She had just removed the fan from its mount when she heard the door creak open.

“Fels, there’s someone looking for you out front.” It was Daily’s voice.

She kept her concentration on the problem in front of her. “Tell them Scott or Jay can handle anything they need. I’m about to go elbow deep into the guts of a very sick computer.”

“Oh, I very much doubt they could do anything to help this particular customer.”

Felicity looked up. Daily was attempting to suppress as smile. There was something she wasn’t telling her.

“What are you hiding?”

“C’mon and find out.”

Darn her. Daily knew exactly which buttons to push with her to get exactly what she wanted.

Felicity stood and walked back to the sale floor. “This better not be a waste of my time.”

“Oh, ye of lil’ faith,” Daily answered. “Besides, when have I ever wasted your precious time?”

“Oh, I don’t know. How ‘bout that time you took me to that party, and I ended up in the hospital overnight.”

“You can’t blame that on me. You’re the one who ate that pot brownie. How was I supposed to know you were allergic to nuts? You didn’t even know.”

That was fair. Felicity conceded the point but continued. “Then how ‘bout the time we went out and I ended up talking to the cops for half an hour?”

“That dude had it coming. He kept spilling his drink all over me and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“But did you really have to knee him in the soft bits?”

“I was aiming for his stomach. Not my fault he was tall.”

“Prom. Our senior year. You came over to my house and bugged me all night long. I really just wanted to be alone.”

Next to her, Daily made a dismissive noise. “Please. Like I was going to leave you alone to wallow in self-pity. Besides, I didn’t really want to go with my date anyway.”

Felicity stopped, an action Daily only caught after continuing a few more steps.

“What?” Felicity asked, her voice flat.

Daily winced at her tone. Apparently, she hadn’t meant to say that.

“What do you mean ‘what’?” she tried.

“You had a date?! You told me he dumped you days before.”

She sighed. “It’s more of the other way around really.”

“Why didn’t you go?”

Daily looked at her like she just asked the dumbest question in the world. “Because I knew I would have more fun with my BEST FRIEND at her house than at some dumpy school dance without her.”

Tears pricked Felicity’s eyes as she pulled Daily into a tight hug. So maybe she didn’t have the best job or a degree from MIT like she should, but she did have the best friend in the world. She wouldn’t give that up for anything.

“C’mon,” Daily said as she let go after a minute. “We shouldn’t keep your anxious guest waiting.”

They made it back to the main floor, and Felicity’s eyes widened when she recognized a familiar set of shoulders.

“Why didn’t you tell me it was Oliver?”

“Because I wanted to see your reaction.” Daily smiled at her. “And it didn’t disappoint. Are you hyperventilating?”

 _Yes_ , she thought. “No.”

“Yea, I’m pretty sure you’re hyperventilating.”

“You’re a horrible person, Daily Marie Rodriguez.”

“I would be offended if it wasn’t so true.” She gave Felicity a small push. “Go.”

So she was nervous. _But I have the right to be, right?_ she thought. _It’s not every day that a spy comes into your store, looking for you because you’re the only one who knows how to get into an encrypted hard drive that you shouldn’t have looked at but did and then changed the encryption for. And this is only the third time she saw him, after all._

Felicity paused. This was only the third time she saw him (She was counting the day he abducted her as one time because the entire encounter didn’t end until that night). It had been two weeks since he left her apartment with the hard drive, and there hasn’t even been a peep from him.

The nervousness turned to frustration, and she nearly stomped to Oliver with renewed vigor. She plastered a fake smile and touched his upper arm to let him know of her presence.

“Hey. What are you doing here?” she asked so sweetly it was sickening.

He smiled back. “Hi,” the no-show said as he leaned down and kissed her on her forehead. “I just wanted to come by and see how you were doing.”

“Great. I’m doing great.” She turned to the boys behind the counter. “Do you mind if I take him from you for a minute?” she asked as she started to pull her cover boyfriend away.

“Sure,” Scott answered. “We’ll be sitting here, waiting for something to happen.”

Felicity dragged Oliver to a secluded corner of the store and turned on him.

“Where have you been?” she ground out through the plastered smile. “It’s been two weeks since I last saw you.”

“It’s only been ten days. I had some business to take care of.”

Her façade dropped. “Were you trying to figure out who attacked you at the warehouse? Did you figure out who it was?”

"I can't tell you that," Oliver said with Felicity joining him halfway through the sentence.

"You know, I'm getting really tired of hearing you say that."

"Then stop asking questions."

"How can I possibly STOP asking questions? You're a ball of secrets. A ball I'm going to untangle whether you like it or not."

He looked at his watch anxiously. "Felicity, I don't have time for this. I need some intel on the drive. I'll be coming over with it later so you can get the information that I need." He smiled at her. “I think it’s about time we have our second date anyway.”

“Third, actually,” she corrected. “We had one while you weren’t around. Daily wouldn’t leave me alone about how long it took you to call in between so I made one up.”

“Oh? Where did I take you?”

“Big Belly Burger.”

One of his eyebrows lifted.

“I’m sorry, okay? She was hounding me, and I was sick of it, and I didn’t know what else to say. Don’t worry. We had a great time, and the low key atmosphere was a great way to get to know each other.”

“Well at least I showed you a good time. I’ll be by your house around eight with the drive.”

Felicity rolled her eyes. “Sure, I can be available at eight. Thanks for asking so politely.”

Her sarcasm was not very effective.

“Thank you for being so understanding,” he said as he kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“I wasn’t being serious, you self-entitled spy,” she mumbled to herself as he walked away. “I should hold that hard drive hostage and only get through the encryption when you apologize and finally start talking to me.”

“What was that?”

Felicity jumped at the voice. If the wrong person heard what she said, she could be in serious trouble. She turned and found it was the worst person that could have possibly overheard her.

“Day! Don’t scare me like that.”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to. Now what were you saying?”

She tried to play it off. “Hmm? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. You’re practically sweating bullets.” She pointed an accusatory finger. “You said something about encryptions. Are you hacking into secured networks again?”

“Yes!” Felicity answered eagerly, glad she had an out.

Her enthusiasm did not go unnoticed, however. Daily looked shocked at her excitement, so she quickly amended her answer.

She dropped her head in mock shame. “I mean, yes, I did. I wanted to try against a new system one of the banks started to employ.”

“Fels, what if Oliver found out about your little nighttime entertainment? I doubt he’d want to date someone who is committing federal crimes.”

Somehow, Felicity knew he wouldn’t care. “Fine. I’ll stop.”

“Thank you. Now, what did Oliver want?”

“Umm… He asked me out again. We’re going out somewhere tonight.”

Daily eyed her suspiciously. Felicity worried that she knew that something wasn’t kosher between them, that she was hiding something.

“This is your third date,” she stated.

“Yeahhhhh,” Felicity answered cautiously. She didn’t know where she was going with this.

There was a long moment of silence before Daily asked, “What time is he coming to pick you up?”

“Eighttttt. What is this about?”

“Great. I’ll be over at seven thirty.”

Felicity froze.

“Fels? You okay?”

She shook her head. “No. You can’t come over.”

“I’m going to.”

“You can’t.”

“And why not?”

“Because… because… It’s just not a good idea, okay?”

Daily held both of Felicity’s arms to steady her. “Felicity, this is your third date. You and I both know about that idiotic little custom or whatever about how guys think they are going to get lucky after the third date. I’m not about to let you go out with a creep like that.”

“So why are you coming tonight?”

“To make sure Oliver Merlyn isn’t a creep.”

“Daily…”

She smiled sweetly. “Don’t worry so much. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, and I won’t even be too intense on the guy. Besides, it’s about time he met your best friend.” She looked over her shoulder. “Uh oh. Better get back to work. Tom’s giving us the stink eye. I’ll see you tonight if I don’t catch you before I leave.”

Felicity nodded mutely, and Daily walked away.

 _This is bad_ , she thought. _This is very, very bad._

 


	2. The Best Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daily was going to met Oliver. Felicity expected the worst, even as she hoped for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to give a big thanks to my little sister who beta'd this for me.

It was seven twenty five when she heard a sharp sound from her intercom, followed by one long one, and ended with six more quick and irritating notes. Felicity buzzed in her guest, knowing exactly who it was.

It was Daily’s customary signal in Morse code. She spent weeks memorizing when she discovered it and forced Felicity to do so as well (it was the puppy dog eyes). She liked the idea of them having a way to communicate that few others would know. This particular set was one of the first she tried. It spelled A – S – S. She thought she was so clever when she started using it back in junior high. Though it did make Felicity smirk whenever she heard Daily’s pencil tapping the rhythm in Mr. Shaw’s class. He always appeared nice, but, man, could he turn on you.

Felicity opened the door to watch her uninvited friend walk up.

“You surprised me,” she started. “You said you were coming at seven thirty so I was trying to get everything ready before then, but I didn’t look at the time because if I look at the time, I won’t stop, and I get nervous and sweaty, and then I’ll smell disgusting because nervous sweating is smellier than exercise sweat because of the fats and proteins that feed the bacteria in your armpits, and that’s what makes you really stinky, and I think I’m getting that right now because I’m-”

“Fels!” Daily interrupted. She grabbed her arms. “Take a breath with me.”

Felicity followed her as she inhaled deeply and slowly let it out. She closed her eyes and felt some of her nerves dissipate.

“Feeling better?” she heard Daily ask.

She nodded.

“Good. Don’t be nervous. Remember what I said at work. I just want to meet him. I’m not going to tie him to a chair and interrogate him.”

Felicity smiled. She would give her next two paychecks to see that. The revenge alone would be sweet enough.

Daily pushed her inside and closed the door behind them. “Now let’s get you some Kleenex so you can wipe off your ‘nervous sweat’ and slap more deodorant on.”

She walked to the bathroom and returned with the items. “It could be worse. At least you weren’t sweating in what you were going to wear tonight. That would be awful.”

“Umm. I am wearing what I’m going to wear tonight.”

Daily’s eyebrow arched. “That? Really?”

Felicity looked down. She had on an untucked, white blouse that spilled over jeans that she didn’t remember being so tight. On her feet were her most comfortable yet presentable flats she had. If she were actually going out on a date, she would grab one of her jackets to throw over, but that wasn’t happening tonight of course.

“What’s wrong with this? I look good.”

“Don’t get me wrong, you do,” Daily quickly said. “But it looks like you’re going out on a first date.”

Because it would be if it were actually happening.

She grabbed her wrist. “C’mon. Let’s find something else.”

Daily dragged her to her bedroom and started in Felicity’s fairly small wardrobe. And that wasn’t referring to the size of her closet. Her selection of outfits was not the most vast. Sure, she liked to go out and buy cute clothes and dresses for herself from time to time, but Felicity would much rather spend money on the latest and greatest tech she could get her hands on. Whenever she spotted something in Tech World that she just had to have, Felicity would buy it immediately before realizing she just spent an entire two weeks’ worth of pay. There wasn’t much money to spend on clothes after doing that every other month.

“Ah ha!” Daily exclaimed as she stepped out with one of her dresses. “Now this is a third date outfit.”

She laid it out on her bed. The dress was deep blue with leather crisscrossing on the back. It had been an impulse buy that Felicity found and liked in some store she couldn’t pronounce. But then she took it home and tried it on and discovered how low the open back was and decided it was way too risky for her and put it away in her closet to be quickly forgotten.

Until Daily found it.

Felicity’s eyes widened. “I’m not going to wear that. It shows way too much.”

“C’mon. You would look so good in this thing.”

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing now?”

“I told you. It’s a ‘first date’ outfit.”

“I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“I mean you should wear something more exciting.” Daily held up the dress so she could see it. “Like this. Who knows? Maybe it’ll get you some action for the first time in a long time.”

Felicity crossed her arms. “I thought the whole point of you coming over was to keep me from getting ‘some action.’”

“Noooooo. I’m here to make sure he isn’t one of those guys that expects you to put out because it’s the third date. I didn’t say you couldn’t get frisky if both of you are liking where the date is going. Heck, I support it. Maybe it will unbundle the pack of that nerves you’ve become recently.”

So Daily did notice how on edge she was. Felicity had been jumpy the past two weeks. A lot had happened to her, and she just kept waiting for Oliver to appear out of nowhere to grab her and put her in that hole he threatened her with. Or waiting for men in suits to come by and take her away to torture her about the hard drive before killing her. So, yeah. Maybe she was a little jumpy whenever someone snuck up behind her or called her name when she wasn’t ready for it. She had every right to be.

“I highly doubt that,” Felicity answered. “But you won’t stop bugging me until I put it on, so give it here.”

She took the dress from a smug Daily and started to change.

“You know, peer pressure is bad. Didn’t you listen to the school assemblies while we were growing up?”

Daily shrugged. “This isn’t peer pressure. It’s friendly persuasion.”

“I’m not feeling much difference,” Felicity said as she pulled up the zipper. She looked at herself in the mirror and stopped.

“See?” Daily said with a knowing smile.

Okay, she had to admit she looked amazing in this dress. It hugged her curves just right, and the back was exposed enough to make her feel sexy while not making her feel like she was giving it all away.

“Fine,” she finally confessed. “You win.”

“Great. Now let’s get you some heels and accessories and do something with your hair, and you’ll be all set.”

“Daily,” she warned.

“What? Have you seen your legs? They’re amazing. They’d look even better in heels. And I know you don’t like to overdo it on jewelry so it won’t be much. And I just wanted to do something with your hair that wasn’t a ponytail. Honestly, I’m surprised you don’t get headaches from how tight you pull your hair back.”

Felicity let out a huff. “Fine. Just don’t take too long.”

She should have known Daily would take every moment she could to make everything just right. As she was putting the finishing touches on Felicity’s hair, the intercom buzzed. Felicity looked at the time which read eight and quickly hurried to the door.

“Who is it?” she called.

Oliver’s voice crackled through the faulty speaker. “It’s Oliver.”

“Come on in,” she said as she buzzed him in.

Now that he was here, Felicity was glad that Daily had forced her to go through all that, thankful for the distraction. If she had just been sitting there and waiting for Oliver to get there, she would have been a ramble-y bundle of nerves.

And Daily knew her too well. She would realize that something was off about tonight, that Felicity was nervous about more than her meeting Oliver. How Felicity got this far without her blatantly asking what was going on was a miracle in itself.

Felicity turned to her friend who was waiting in the living room and mouthed “Be nice.”

Daily shrugged noncommittally. It was the best she was going to give.

She opened the door and found Oliver with his hand up, just about to knock. Thank God he was in a shirt and dress slacks. It would look incredibly awkward for her if he showed up in sweatpants. Not that he didn’t usually dress nice, but it was just Felicity’s luck for him to show up looking like he wasn’t prepared for a date.

His eyebrows rose as he looked at what she was wearing. Felicity felt the back of her neck heat. He opened his mouth, but she interrupted before he exposed too much.

“Hey. Come on in. We have a visitor.”

He nodded, hopefully telling her he understood the predicament. He gave her a light peck on the cheek. “You look amazing.”

She blushed at the compliment and stepped to the side so Oliver could see Daily waiting patiently. She saw his brow knit for a fraction of a second before a smile replaced the expression.

Daily walked forward, extending her hand. “Hi. I don’t know if you remember me. I’m-”

“Daily,” he finished for her as he shook her hand. “You work with Felicity at Tech World. She told me a lot about you.”

How was he so smooth with lies like that? She guessed it must be a requirement in his line of work.

“That’s funny,” Daily said, eyeing Felicity. “She’s pretty evasive about you.”

“That’s my fault,” Oliver confessed. “In my line of work, I have to be careful who knows what. I asked her to be discreet about me and what I do.”

“And what do you do, Mr. Merlyn?”

Felicity tensed. Daily had asked her the same question many times over the past two weeks, and she always played it off as something insignificant. Truthfully, she had no idea what to tell her best friend.

“Please. Call me Oliver. I’m a security consultant. I move around from place to place, assessing and updating various corporations’ security. You can see why I would be wary of people knowing what I do. If the wrong people got ahold of my reports, there could be some very disastrous breaches.”

Wow. That was a good one. She wished she thought of that.

Daily nodded. “Last time we talked, you said you didn’t want to start a relationship because you didn’t know how long you were going to be in town. What changed?”

Her friend was not pulling her punches.

“One of our clients ran into some…” He paused and looked pointedly at Felicity. “Complications with their network. They wanted me to stay on to help them with it. My company agreed, so now I’m here for the foreseeable future.” Oliver checked his watch. “I don’t want to sound rude, but are we planning on staying here awhile?”

Felicity jumped at the excuse to leave. “We can go if we have to get somewhere. We can always do this another time.”

Oliver held up his hand. “No, no. Daily obviously wanted to meet me before our third date. I just have to call the restaurant to get our reservation pushed back.” He stood and pulled a phone from his pocket. “Excuse me for a minute.”

When he was out of earshot, Daily leaned over and whispered, “Damn, his butt looks good in those pants. I’m a little envious.”

Felicity nodded before she realized what she was doing. “Stop it. He’s not a piece of meat.”

“Of course not. He’s polite and nice enough. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate all the hard work he puts into those muscles.”

“Day,” she warned.

Her friend plopped down on one of her chairs. “What? Don’t you think he’d like the compliment? You did. I saw how you blushed when he told you you looked amazing.”

Okay, she did. She’d admit that. “Just try to bring it down a couple of notches. You were starting to grill him about his job.”

“That was a simple question. I just-”

Daily stopped when they heard the clicking of Oliver’s shoes as he came back.

“Good news. I got our reservation pushed back thirty minutes.”

“Oh good,” Felicity said unenthusiastically.

Thirty minutes was way too long. Daily could do a lot of damage in that time.

Felicity sat down at one of the ends of the couch, giving Oliver the option of where to sit. Hopefully, he would pick the opposite end or at least keep some distance between them.

He did not. He sat right next to her, placing his arm on the back of the couch behind her. This was going to be a long thirty minutes.

“So, Oliver,” Daily continued, “Fels told me you guys met at the grocery store after you came into Tech World.”

He nodded and looked at her affectionately. “Yeah. She told me how she got sick from eating old takeout and how sorry she was she couldn’t be there to give me the hard drive. Then, she continued to describe how terrible her morning with food poisoning was. After we parted ways, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. So I came back to Tech World the next day to see if she wanted to eat at a restaurant that didn’t deliver, and here we are.”

The story was a well-rehearsed lie they formed the night after he kidnapped her. Felicity felt awkward whenever she told it, and the false warmth in his eyes wasn’t her doing any favors listening to it now.

She looked away to compose herself and found Daily with a small smile. She had seen that exact one before, right before her friend was about to get her in trouble.

“Tell me: do you normally pick up chicks at the grocery store?”

Felicity let her head fall back. _Here we go._

* * *

Oliver put the Ford Mustang into gear and pulled away from Felicity’s apartment.

“Sooooo, that was awkward,” she said, trying desperately to break the silence.

He smiled. “It wasn’t so bad.”

“She grilled you for nearly twenty minutes.”

“Yes, she did. I’ve had instructors that were less intense.”

“I’m sorry.”

Oliver shook his head. “Don’t be. I was going to have to meet her eventually. At least she signed off on me.”

And Daily had. After her questioning was done, she stood, told them to have a good time, and left with little fanfare. It was an odd night.

“Thank you for doing that. It’s going to make being around her a lot easier,” Felicity told him.

“No problem.” He paused. “Must be nice, having such a good friend.”

She turned to look at him, surprised by his tone. The smile was still there, but it was sad and remorseful now. She wanted to ask what happened to his friend that made him look like that, but something told her not to. So, she filed it away in her brain as a question to ask later.

“So, are we going around the block then back to my apartment?” she tried, hoping to bring Oliver from his gloom and back to why he wanted to come in the first place.

“No,” he answered. “I’ll pull over and have you access the drive. I don’t know if the thing has a GPS or can signal when it’s plugged into a computer that has the internet. We should do this as off the grid as possible. The less time we spend in your apartment, the better.”

Felicity looked down at her dress, smoothing out invisible wrinkles, and sighed. “The first time I get this dressed up in years, and the guy I’m with doesn’t even want to spend time with me in my apartment.”

The car was silent. She caught him stealing glances at her with one eyebrow raised.

“That was a joke,” she told him.

He didn’t laugh.

Felicity sighed again. “Just pull over, and let me do this. I want to get back home so I can watch some Dr. Who before bed like a normal girl without a date.”

She winced when she realized that she sounded like a prostitute that was just eager to get her next job over with. She peeked at Oliver to see his bright smile return.

“Oh, so you don’t laugh at my jokes, but you laugh at that?”

He shrugged without a word as he continued down the road to wherever they were heading.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm gonna gush a minute so feel free to skip this. I've been writing Arrow fan fiction for little over month now, not long to say the least. So when The Olicity Library Tumblr (ran by the amazing ohmypreciousgirl) listed Isabel's Mark along with other soul mate AU's, I freaked out a bit. To even be in the same post as writers like sarcastic_fina and ohmypreciousgirl was a treat for me.


	3. The Girlfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They needed to have a conversation, one long overdue.

Oliver walked up to her building, found her name on the roll, and buzzed her apartment. It didn’t take long for the speaker to crackle to life.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Oliver.”

“Oliver? What are you… Never mind. Come on in.”

The door buzzed, and he pulled it open and walked down the hall to number fourteen. She opened her door after he only made it half way there. Her face spoke to her surprise.

“I didn’t realize you were coming over,” Felicity said as she let him in. “I’m not really dressed for visitors.”

Oliver glanced down. She was wearing fuzzy socks, pajama pants printed with matryoshka dolls, and an oversized shirt. He also noticed glasses sitting low on her nose, something he was unaware she needed. She looked comfortable and ready for bed. But that wouldn’t stop his mission.

“And why are you in a suit?”

“Have you eaten?” he asked, ignoring her question.

“No.” She pointed over her shoulder. “I was just about to reheat some takeout. Why?”

“Don’t. You should go put on that dress again and come with me.”

Felicity crossed her arms and stared at him, her eyes full of suspicion. “What’s your game? You don’t need me to squeeze into a nice dress if all you want is from me to get some info out of the hard drive.”

He smiled as brightly as he could. “Just humor me.”

She let out a frustrated groan. “Fine. You better not be wasting my time.”

“I promise you won’t be disappointed,” he called after her as she retreated to her room.

It only took her twenty minutes to change and reemerge. She was quite stunning in the dress. It made him wonder why she was still single when their new status quo formed.

She crossed her arms. “Okay. You got me in this thing again. Now what?”

Oliver offered her his arm. She rolled her eyes but threaded her hand through anyway. He led her out the door, making sure to lock it behind them, and into his car. He opened the door for her, a gesture she thanked him for before sliding into the seat. Oliver rounded the vehicle, glided into the driver’s side, and started the car.

“So where are we going?” Felicity asked as he pulled onto the street.

“It’s a surprise.”

“I think there’s something you should know about me: I don’t like surprises. I don’t like mysteries. And I don’t like secrets.”

“I’ve noticed. But don’t worry. I don’t want anything from you except to relax and enjoy yourself.”

“Fine.”

Felicity crossed her arms but eased back into the passenger seat. The car was silent except for the occasional roar of the engine.

“I hear James Holder ran into some legal trouble yesterday,” she suddenly said.

Oliver nodded. “And he no longer has the capital to pay for those expensive lawyers anymore.”

“And where did all his money go?” she asked.

“Donated to a relief shelter for those that lost their homes to disasters.”

Felicity’s smile was bright and infectious. Holder was the mark he visited her about two nights ago. He had received the information he needed quick enough and formulated a plan to scare him out of the city just as fast. But she wouldn’t let him leave until they figured out some way to keep the man from restarting his operation somewhere else. Felicity was the one that came up with the idea of leaking incriminating evidence while draining his bank accounts.

If he was honest with himself, the plan worked better than his would have. Oliver didn’t have many moves besides coercion through intimidation. Felicity brought a finesse he didn’t realize he was missing until now.

“Thank you for your help with that,” he told her.

“Your welcome,” she answered brightly. “I have to admit, I feel good about it.”

His grip tightened on the wheel. “And I hope you never have to feel the opposite. But Felicity, my job isn’t always going to finish with such a nice ending.”

“I know,” she assured him. “I’m not naïve. I know that stuff might happen that I won’t be very proud of. But I know the risks.”

“No, I don’t think you do. I’m not exactly the cleanest person. I’ve killed people. I’ve tortured people. And I don’t see that stopping soon. I don’t want you helping me with something you can’t live with. I signed up for this, knowing where it will lead. You didn’t.”

Oliver felt a hand on his forearm. He glanced at Felicity for a moment. Her eyes were on him, intense and hopeful and blue. So blue. He had to look away, fearing he may get lost there.

“You’re a good person, Oliver. I know you have to do things you don’t want to to protect yourself, but I know, deep down, you are a good person.”

He was struck by her sincerity. “You seem awfully confident in that assessment.”

She squeezed his arm before removing her hand and shrugging. “I’m a good judge of character. It’s why I trusted you in the warehouse after you pulled back your hood. I know you have a good heart, whether you believe it or not. I just do.”

Oliver let the subject drop. She obviously saw more in him than he did. Or maybe she didn’t see enough of him.

He pulled the Mustang up to the valet. “We’re here.”

Felicity looked out the window and immediately snapped to him. “Table Salt? This is one of the best restaurants in Starling.”

He smiled at her as he opened the door. “I know,” he said as he stepped out.

Oliver handed the keys over to the valet and joined Felicity on the sidewalk. He put his hand on her back, feeling the exposed skin. She tensed at the touch but only for a moment before relaxing into his hand.

The maître d’hôtel smiled politely as they entered. “May I help you?”

“Yes,” Oliver answered. “I have a reservation.”

“Name?”

“Tommy Merlyn.”

He caught Felicity’s brief glance to him. He was positive she was going to ask about the name once they reached their table.

The man found his name and picked up two menus. “Right this way, Mr. Merlyn.”

They found their small table, and Oliver was quick to pull out the chair for Felicity. She appeared bewildered by the gesture and the attention he was giving her, but she thanked him and sat down. He took his seat opposite from her, giving him the better view of both the entrance and the kitchens.

Once the host left, Felicity leaned over the table and whispered, “Who’s Tommy?”

“No one,” he answered quickly. “A pseudonym I use.”

“Then I’m guessing Oliver Merlyn isn’t your real name either.”

He smiled politely. “No.”

She picked up her menu and started to scan the dishes. “Another mystery I have to solve,” she mumbled. Oliver wasn’t sure if she wanted him to overhear that or not.

Just as he was about to pick up his menu, Felicity dropped hers again, her brow knitted together.

“Wait. Why didn’t you use Tommy at Tech World? Why did you write down Oliver? I’m guessing it's the name you use in whatever business you do.”

She was right. He had every intention of putting Tommy’s name on whatever forms they needed from him. But something happened to him that day, something that caused him to forget his plan and write the name he had grown accustom to using after the island.

Oliver picked up his menu. “I got distracted.”

“Really?” She sounded shocked. “What could distract the great spy Oliver Merlyn?” she asked in hushed tones so no one could overhear.

He didn’t take his eyes off the list of deliciously sounding entrees. “There was a certain blond Tech-pert telling me that, if I wanted her to do anything to me, all I had to do was ask.”

He peeked over and saw Felicity’s cheeks were glowing bright red. She tried to hide it by covering her face with her menu.

Their waiter came to their table and saved her. Oliver order a bottle of La Gaffeliere, and the young woman rushed off to retrieve the wine.

He looked back to Felicity. She was watching him intently.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I forgot to ask if you like wine.”

She seemed to snap back from wherever she was. “I do! Like wine that is. Red especially. It’s just… That’s a pretty expensive bottle.”

She obviously hadn’t realized what time of restaurant Table Salt was yet. “Felicity, look at the menu. Do you notice something?”

She looked down, and he watched as her eyes moved over the pages.

“There’s no prices,” she said absently.

“Exactly. Because people that come here tend to not care about the price of their meal.”

He saw the exact moment she understood what he was saying. Her eyes widened before darting back to the menu, searching for anything with some sort of value associated with it. When she exhausted the options, Felicity looked back at Oliver.

“I can’t afford this,” she said in a frantic whisper.

Oliver smiled. “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t pay for the meal?”

“You’re not my real boyfriend.”

“Maybe, but I should act like it to keep people from suspecting.”

She sat back. “I get that, but why here? Why at the one of the most expensive places in town?”

“A variety of reasons.”

She waited expectantly. “Well? Are you going to tell them to me or make me guess?”

Oliver sighed. He wanted to hold off this conversation until dinner, but the look in her eyes told him she wasn’t about to wait. “First of all, this is a thank you for two nights ago.”

“I really think it should be the other way around. I kinda ambushed you with Daily being there and-”

He held up a hand to stop her. “I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about how you helped me plan my attack on Holder.”

“Oh. I don’t know why you’re thanking me for that. I didn’t do much. Just gave you another option. A fairly simple one at that.”

“Still, you didn’t have to do that, and, like I said, the outcome was better than what I would have been able to accomplish on my own.”

She smiled. “Well, I’m glad I could help then.”

“Secondly,” Oliver continued, “this date is to help you with Daily and your friends.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the most convincing lies have a bit of truth in them. People, especially those closest to you, know when you’re not being truthful. Mixing the two makes it harder to discern what is fact and what is fiction.”

Her face fell. “So you brought me here because you want me to be a better liar to my friends.”

Oliver picked his words carefully. “That’s not completely inaccurate. But those aren’t the only reasons. I also want to get to know you, Felicity.”

“Me? Why? There’s nothing special about me. I’m just some geek that works at Tech World.”

His eyebrow arched. “Just some geek? Not too many geeks can break through top-of-the-line, military-grade encryption in a few hours. Not too many people can handle men shooting at them, let alone jumping through a window and swimming upriver to escape. And I haven’t had anyone come up with a plan as fast as you did two nights ago. You’re remarkable, Felicity Smoak.”

Her cheeks were tinged with red, but she didn’t look away. “Well, thank you for remarking on it.”

Their wine came. Felicity took a sip, and Oliver watched as she closed her eyes and hummed appreciatively as she savored the flavor. He fought to suppress the honest smile that was forming. He hoped that working with him wouldn’t take away her inability to hide her true feelings. He didn’t want her to lose that.

“Good wine?” he asked.

She nodded, still visibly enjoying it. “Very good.”

“I’m glad you like it.” Oliver rested his arms on the table and leaned closer. “So, tell me about yourself, Felicity?”

She opened her eyes. “Is this you trying to gather information or are you actually trying to get to know me?”

“Why can’t it be both?”

Her head tilted, and she gave him the same exasperated look she had when they first met. “Because one makes me not so eager to answer your questions.”

He laughed before he could stop it. “You are making a habit of surprising me, Felicity. I find myself genuinely interested and want to learn what makes you you.”

Felicity smiled. “Well, Mr. Merlyn, what do you want to know?”

They talked about themselves through the rest of the meal. Felicity was originally from Las Vegas and an only child. She didn’t say much about her mom or dad, dodging the questions with practiced efficiency. Oliver let the subject drop; she was as entitled to her secrets just as he was.

She did talk extensively about Daily and the trouble they got into. They had been together since kindergarten when “some stupid boy” pushed Felicity, and “Daily was having none of that” and came to her rescue. Not one to be outshined, Felicity stood up for herself and that stupid boy now had to face two very angry and very determined little girls. To say the kid was outmatched would be an understatement. Oliver almost felt sorry for him.

He also learned that Daily was the reason Felicity ended up in Starling. After MIT expelled her (another subject Oliver didn’t press), Felicity had nowhere to go since she was adamantly against returning home. That was until Daily told her to come stay with her until she got her feet back under her. She got her a job at Tech World, and here she was, seven years later.

Felicity asked Oliver questions as well. He was vague with his answers, adding half-truths from time to time to round out the stories and outright lying only when necessary. He told her how he was orphaned (half-truth) and joined the military (lie). The people he currently worked for saw his abilities and asked him to join their organization, and he did (vague).

Felicity asked about the hard drive, and he told her it contained a lot of secrets that his organization coveted. He wasn’t worried about telling her that much. She had seen what was inside it. She would have been able to discern that for herself. What he didn’t tell her was the reason he brought the drive to her and why those men were after him. He answered with “It’s complicated,” and she got the hint, though it was obvious she wasn’t happy about it.

The conversation gave way to amicable silence as they finished their second bottle of wine and waited for the check. Felicity watched the other patrons of the restaurant. Oliver was less relaxed. There was still one more topic he wanted to broach, and he knew it wouldn’t be easy for him.

“Felicity,” he whispered.

She turned back to him. “Hmm?”

“There’s another reason I brought you here tonight. It’s about trust.”

She sighed. “I had a bet with myself when you would try to talk to me about keeping your identity a secret.” She paused. “I would have won, if you were wondering.”

Again, he felt himself suppressing a smile. “No, it’s not that. I know I can trust you. You haven’t told anyone about me in twelve days. That’s a pretty good indicator that you never will. I’m talking about me.”

He shifted in his seat. This was new territory to Oliver that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with. He only experienced unease like this on the island when he was faced with challenges he wasn’t ready for. Still, the woman sitting across from him needed to know.

“Felicity, my job requires me to keep a lot of secrets. I will tell you what I can, when I can, but I can’t tell you everything all the time. I keep my secrets to protect you in case this all goes bad.”

“No, you don’t,” she challenged. “You keep them to protect yourself.”

Oliver’s brow furrowed. Apparently, she was going to make this as hard on him as possible. Still, she was right, and he felt himself losing his composure because of it.

“Trust doesn’t come easy to me, Felicity,” he said intensely.

Her eyes widened at the admission. He was having the same reaction but was able to keep a straight face, just barely. Oliver wasn’t prepared to be so honest with her. But it was out there now. Might as well finish.

“And it’s more than just my job. A lot of people I thought were my friends turned out to be lying to me. People I trusted with my life betrayed me.”

Sara’s face flooded his mind. His jaw clenched, and his fingernails bit into his palms. The anger he felt as he watched her fleeing form returned with a vengeance. It took a light touch from Felicity to bring him back to the present.

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” she told him.

Those words were easy to say but harder to keep. People only looked out for themselves when the chips were down. Still, she didn’t need to know his realistic doubts about her loyalty.

“I know,” he lied. “But it’ll still take some time.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out a piece of paper, and slid it to her. “I want you to know I’m trying though.”

Felicity picked up the piece of paper. “What’s this?”

“My number. To my actual phone and not some burner. I want you to be able to contact me whenever you need to.”

She leaned closer, flashing him the number. “You do realize I’m good enough to hack into cell phone providers and can track your movements with this, right?”

“I do now.”

“And you still want me to have it?”

“Yes,” he answered easily.

Felicity smiled. “Thank you for this. I know it probably wasn’t easy for you. I appreciate you trying.”

Oliver nodded. He made decent progress on his last mission for the night, one he wasn’t telling Felicity. He needed her to trust him implicitly. Tonight was a good first step toward that goal.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just letting you guys know that I'm going on hiatus for the rest of the month.
> 
> Thank you for all the kudos and comments. They mean a lot to me and keep me writing.


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